


Crazy for You

by sockpuppeteer



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 15:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12015459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sockpuppeteer/pseuds/sockpuppeteer
Summary: Frank's relief is almost palpable when there is someone home in apartment opposite, and, although mussed and a little bleary, he looks relatively friendly. And gorgeous, but Frank is definitely not focusing on that right now.





	Crazy for You

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not convinced I've done a great job checking this over, so if you spot any errors, please let me know!! :D

Frank's never bothered with his neighbours all that much. He's not good with strangers, doesn't care to have the social skills necessary to make meaningless conversation with someone he barely knows, and most of all, he doesn't particularly  _want_  to. They're just people who happen to have apartments in the same building as him; all it proves is that they have good taste in living quarters.

But now, he's getting desperate. His family are out of town, out of the  _country_ , off holidaying somewhere far more exotic than New Jersey, and his friends - his wonderful, devoted, we'll-do-anything-we-can-to-help-since-she-left-you-with-a-baby friends - are working, are sick, are busy washing their hair, are full of  _bullshit_.

With a frustrated wail, he knocks his head back against the wall, and winces when it hurts.

"Daddy?"

Frank softens immediately, sinking to his knees and holding out his arms to the little girl he loves above everything and anything else.

"Hey, baby," he murmurs softly, and lifts her up as he stands. She giggles as the floor disappears beneath her, and already he feels better.

That doesn't change that he's late, though, and he's going to get  _fired_  if he messes up again. There's only so much slack the company will cut him, and it's not nearly enough to cover for having a five-year-old daughter.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, he supposes as he gathers up a few of Amelia’s favourite toys, DVDs and the battered teddy sitting in one corner of the couch. Barnaby's arm was falling off, the stuffing leaking out of the hole, but Frank was a little scared to take a needle to it himself in case he ended up doing more damage than good.

With Amelia on one hip and her entertainment under his other arm, Frank heads out into the hall.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, baby, but Daddy has to go to work, okay? I won't be long, I promise, then maybe we can go to the park and get ice cream, hm?"

The pout that had been threatening to turn into full-on tears is gone in the face of her excitement, and she nods with a grin, "Yeah! Where are we going?"

"To find somewhere for you to stay for a little while," Frank explains, facing the door to the left of their apartment. He looks between the doorbell and his arms, full of child and toys, then back again. "Push the button for me, sweetie?"

More than happy to press anything that might make a noise, Frank lifts Amelia closer so that she can reach, and he hears the echo of the bell trilling behind the door. They wait, and wait, but no-one comes, and with a sigh he moves across to the other side.

This time, someone answers, she’s more glitter and make-up than skin, and isn't wearing nearly enough clothes for Frank's liking. With a nod of apology, and rapidly running out of doors to knock on, his relief is almost palpable when there is someone home in apartment opposite, and, although mussed and a little bleary, he looks relatively friendly. And gorgeous, but Frank is definitely not focusing on that right now.

"Is everything okay?" The other man asks with a smile that Frank makes sure reaches his eyes.

"Hey, uh, my name's Frank, and this is my daughter Amelia, we live opposite you?"

"Oh, hi! I'm Gerard." He's still smiling, a little wider now, and nods politely before offering a hand to Amelia, which she shakes with all the firm, awkward exuberance of a child, "Did you want to come in?"

Frank struggles to offer a handshake of his own, and Gerard's hands shoot out to catch the precarious stack under Frank's arm.

"Thanks," Frank flushes awkwardly. "Um, no, but I was wondering if I could ask you a really huge, crazy, totally inappropriate favour..."

"Babysitter?" Gerard asks, taking Amelia's things from under Frank's arm and watching with eyes that sparkle knowingly.

Frank's cheeks burn a little redder, "Yeah, actually, I... I'm really sorry to ask it of you and I wouldn't do it if I had another choice and I hate leaving her with someone I don't know but-but if I get fired then I can't take care of her and then we'll be out on the streets because my parents don't have room and-"

"It's fine," Gerard silences him, "No problem at all, really. Amelia can stay here with me and we can eat lots of yummy things while you tell me all your Daddy’s deepest, darkest secrets until he gets back. Are you allergic to anything, Amelia?" He's looking at Amelia when he speaks, and Frank can't help but like him, especially when she giggles excitedly and shakes her head. She's always been a quiet little thing, much like her mother; far more prone to hiding her face in his neck when presented with new people than even  _looking_  at them, so this, Frank thinks, is already a good start.

-

When he comes home that night, having spent the whole afternoon distracted and hating himself for leaving his baby girl with a  _stranger_ , Frank's heart starts to race when Gerard doesn't answer the door the moment he rings the bell. What if he'd run off with her, what if he'd taken her away and Frank would never see her again? What if he was really part of a drug ring, and they were going to bring her up as an addict while she's too young to know better? What if-

There's a laugh from inside, high and sweet and melodic, followed by a war cry that may or may not have come from a man before the door is flung open. Gerard is even more dishevelled than he had been earlier, hair sticking up around his head in disarray, and Frank feels a smile tugging at his lips.

"Daddy!" Amelia cries, flying down the corridor to throw her arms around Frank's legs, and he picks her up with a grin.

"Having a good time?" She nods, eyes alight in a way Frank's not used to seeing when other people are around, but then Gerard's letting out another cry of success and diving behind a pile of cushions and blankets in one corner of the living room.

"Victory!" He declares triumphantly, and Amelia shrieks and wriggles until Frank puts her down.

"Nooo!" She wails, all but flying across the room to leap on top of the other man, and Gerard laughs loudly, launching a tickle-war on the loser.

Nudging the door closed behind him and watching as Amelia squeals and flails around, Frank calmly toes off his shoes before throwing himself into the fray.

Later, when they've demolished the fort that Amelia and Barnaby had been protecting from the Evil Supervillain to put the sofa back together, and Amelia has fallen asleep in Frank's lap, Gerard offers to make them pancakes for dinner.

Frank laughingly tells him he thinks he's in love.

Gerard's eyes soften as he looks down at Amelia's closed eyes, her arms tight around Barnaby - who has a bandage over one arm and has strict instructions to be careful for at  _least_  a week - and he says that he thinks he might be, too.

-

By the school holidays, it's become a regular thing. Rather than relying on a nanny to take care of Amelia while Frank's away at work, after breakfast she trots across the hall and settles down on Gerard's couch with a cartoon or a comic or a notebook from the pile that is rapidly accumulating on his coffee table. Frank pretends not to notice when new things are added to it because as much as he hates charity, he knows that's not what this is.

Up until lunch, he knows, Gerard will sit and paint, or draw, or write, working on whatever deadline is looming, with Amelia and Barnaby curled up next to him. Frank's proud to learn she is always well-behaved and patient, content to busy herself with whatever she brings or Gerard provides. Once they've eaten, Gerard’s supplies are put away and they spend the afternoon doing whatever takes Amelia's fancy.

Frank tells Gerard he's spoiling her. Gerard just agrees with a grin.

He won't take Frank's money, no matter how many times Frank tries to offer it.

"It's no different to what I normally do," he insists, "Except now I've got someone to share my free time with." Frank makes a point of bringing dinner home with him most evenings, though, and even if he can't always be trusted to cook it properly when it's not take-out, he'll do the dishes. Gerard laughs when he burns their food the first time, voicing his curiosity about they ever survived on their own. Frank just whacks him with a dishcloth, because Gerard’s no better a cook than him, and wonders when they got so close.

But the holidays don't last forever, and soon Amelia is back at school and with Frank’s mom on Saturdays. Frank goes back to working six hour days and staying up long into the night so that he can be there for her before and after school, as well as get all his work done, and suddenly there is a big void in his life that wasn't there before, one that must be even bigger for Amelia.

"Daddy?" She asks one night as he's putting her to bed, Barnaby's mended arm proudly on display now that the bandage is gone.

"Hm?" Frank murmurs, tucking the covers in around her.

"When are we going to go and see Gee again?"

"Who's Gee, sweetie?"

"Gerard," she says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world, "From across the hall."

Frank's hand falters where it's brushing her long, dark hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ears, "Gee, huh?"

She nods, "Mm. He said everyone calls him Gerard, but because I'm special I can just call him Gee."

Frank's heard thuds a little harder, and he kisses her on the forehead, "Soon, baby. Soon."

-

At first, Frank thinks it's only polite to give Gerard some alone time after they've invaded his life every day for the past few weeks, and then it's gone a little too long for him to feel comfortable just crossing the hall and knocking on the door. The longer he waits, the harder it gets, until three weeks have passed and Frank wonders if Gerard was just glad to be rid of them, wonders if there was really any heart behind all the things he'd said to Amelia. He can't forget though, not with the way Amelia talks about him every day, about whether Gee would like what she'd drawn at school, if Gee would have enjoyed their class field trip to the museum, if Gee would prefer fish for dinner, like her, or lasagne, like Daddy.

It takes him by complete surprise when he opens his door one evening to take the trash out, and finds Gerard stood outside, hand raised to push the bell.

"I'm back!" The other man grins, and Frank automatically steps aside to welcome him in before it really sinks in.

"You left?"

Gerard nods, "I left you that note, remember?"

"You did?" Frank frowns, silent for a long moment before he remembers sifting through his junk mail rather haphazardly one morning and dumping it on the counter to be dealt with later. Much later, it seems, because the pile is still there, untouched.

"Oh! The note, right, o-of course..."

"You didn't get the note, did you?"

Frank's never been able to lie well, so he just looks away instead.

"Idiot," Gerard smiles, and Frank's jaw drops, affronted for the split second it takes the other man to close the door behind him and throw his arm around Frank's shoulder, "Did you think I'd just abandoned you?"

"No!" Frank answers too quickly, and can feel his cheeks burning already, "N-not me..."

"Gee!"

Amelia's grin looks wide enough to hurt as she all but skips towards them, and Gerard releases Frank to scoop her up and spin her around in a circle, telling her how silly and hopeless her Daddy is over her giggles.

When the pair of them have calmed down, Gerard tells Frank about his trip whilst happily looking through all of Amelia's drawings from the past few weeks, listening to her explanations of each one in one ear and Frank's occasional comments in the other. It's effortless, like he was born to multitask, and Frank tries not to smile as the idea of Gerard being the woman in this relationship crosses his mind.

Eventually, though, Gerard misses something Amelia says, and his eyes twinkle with amusement as she berates him with a disapproving look on her face. His apologies sound genuine, though, and Frank stands.

"Chinese or Italian... You're the one that's been away, what do you fancy, Gee?"

Gerard turns to look at him with raised eyebrows, and Frank freezes.

"Sorry! S-Sorry, I, uh. Amelia's always saying it and I guess it just-"

Gerard shushes him with a shake of his head. "That’s okay," he says, eyes still bright, and Frank's mouth twitches in return.

They decide on pizza. It's the weekend tomorrow, so Frank doesn't mind Amelia staying up a little later than usual to watch movies with them, and it's far easier to handle a slice of pizza with both eyes on the television than a pair of chopsticks. Frank leaves them both still looking through Amelia's artwork, his daughter far happier now that she's got all of Gerard’s attention to herself.

The pizza menu is on top of the stack of mail on the kitchen counter, and with a glance behind him to check they're still engrossed, Frank leafs through it until he finds Gerard’s note, hastily scrawled on a sheet of lined paper torn from a notebook.

_ Frank, _

_ Going to the city for a few weeks for work. _

_ Sorry I didn't tell you properly - you're out and it's all happened really last minute. _

_ Tell Amelia I'm sorry and make sure she knows that Barnaby's arm still needs lots of rest! _

_ Try not to miss me too much! _

_ \- Gerard _

Between the last two lines, there's something else that Gerard’s scribbled through, over and over until it's all but illegible, but if Frank holds it up to the light and squints his eyes just so, he can just about make it out.

_ I know I'll miss you. _

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are life and encourage the procrastinator in me to, y'know, write stuff. <3


End file.
